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ON THE ELECTION - With the primary season behind us, attention now turns to November’s general election—an existential moment for Los Angeles amid deep public distrust and frustration. In this unsettled civic and political period, the central test will be which candidate can walk the talk, demonstrating consistency, integrity, resilience, self-awareness and empathy...
Both Karen Bass and Nithya Raman describe themselves as “agents of change.” But earning that label requires the mindset, skills, and discipline to inspire others, drive meaningful transformation, and understand why change matters.
Momentous change is urgently needed. Being a change agent requires more than claiming the title; it demands the mindset and willingness to act, challenge norms, push boundaries, and take risks even when doing so is unpopular. The city’s structure is unusually complex, with powerful general managers, independent super-departments, overlapping city and county authority, and fragmented accountability.
Given these constraints, how should we evaluate Bass and Raman? Will their pre-election behavior match their performance? Los Angeles’ urgent challenges demand leadership grounded in authority, governance, and execution—not rhetoric.
Many questions persist, and answers alone are only a starting point.
Because Los Angeles mayors lack the command-and-control powers of their counterparts in other major cities, coalition building is essential to achieving results. Which candidate can negotiate, compromise, and sustain productive relationships with the City Council’s diverse factions? While the mayor appoints commissioners, which candidate can use the appointment power to drive departmental alignments?
The true operational executives in Los Angeles are general managers. Which candidate can set clear performance expectations, conduct meaningful evaluations, and replace underperforming leaders when necessary? City initiatives require excellent relationships with cross-sector partners, such as labor unions, business organizations, neighborhood councils, county, state and federal agencies, and nonprofits; which candidate has demonstrated the ability to sustain these broad alliances?
Having followed city government for many years, I have often publicly pointed to failures which are fixable. Let us see which candidate will be bold enough to address the many drastic city fiascos.
Restructuring departments would be an important start. For example, Public Works began as a sensible way to consolidate the city’s physical infrastructure responsibilities under one umbrella. Over time, however, it became an unwieldy department overseeing everything from bridge construction and wastewater treatment to graffiti removal, trash collection, and streetlight maintenance. As its scope expanded, it drifted far beyond its original mission and took on broad policy goals, including economic recovery, inequality reduction, and climate action.
Burdened by its size and complexity, the department can no longer meet today’s demands effectively. It should be divided into specialized units with clearer responsibilities and focused expertise.
The Public Works board is a political patronage appointment costing the taxpayers $5 million per year. It is the only commission in the city and county whose members are paid. Mayor Richard Riordan tried to reform it, but political hacks sabotaged him.
Immediate reforms could include moving the Bureau of Street Lighting (BSL) to the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP), again Riordan attempted to merge the agencies, but the unions stopped him.
Merge the Bureau of Street Services (BSS) with the city’s Department of Transportation (DOT.
A Chief Legislative Analyst report that found that, although DOT was created in 1979 to bring transportation planning, policy, design, construction, and maintenance under one department, the city never fully carried out that mission. As a result, the city remains burdened by a fragmented system that has hindered implementation of major transportation policies, including the Bicycle Plan, Safe Routes to School Strategic Plan, Mobility Plan, and Green New Deal.
Sidewalks and crosswalks are essential parts of people’s travel paths, yet they remain largely excluded from DOT-led transportation and mobility planning. Departments often work at cross purposes: one agency widens streets to outdated standards while another seeks grant funding to narrow them for safety and livability. As the CLA report noted, different agencies manage the space inside and outside the curb, but no one is clearly responsible for ensuring the curb is in the right place.
The city has failed to meet its goal of eliminating traffic deaths by 2025, partly because of weak political support and poor interdepartmental coordination. A report on this issue stated that nearly half of the fifty-six actions and strategies in the Vision Zero Action Plan remained unfinished as of 2023, despite original target dates in 2017 and 2020.
How is the next mayor going to heal the park system that ranks 93rd out of 100 cities in the nation, after successive administrations reduced significantly its funding?
The shortage of parks is a clear measurable inequity affecting social, environmental, and health outcomes-and one of the easiest equity failures to fix.
When a candidate speaks about "affordability" with precision, humility, and genuine empathy and understanding, voters recognize it immediately. That recognition builds credibility, and credibility earns trust, and trust demonstrates the capacity to govern. A candidate who cannot genuinely feel this reality cannot speak to voters with credibility and therefore she does not deserve our vote.
In this campaign, affordability is a defining issue because it reaches every community: renters and homeowners, workers and small businesses, students and immigrants alike. Angelenos want a leader who understands their struggles, travails and tribulations, and respects the realities they face every day.
Another serious threat hangs over the city like a Sword of Damocles: the financial risk tied to Olympic planning. The Enhanced City Resources Master Agreement between the LA28 Organizing Committee and the city remains unsigned, even though it was supposed to be completed before last October. Under the agreed cost-overrun framework, Los Angeles would cover the first $270 million, the State of California the next $270 million, and Los Angeles taxpayers any amount above $540 million with no cap.
This risk must come under urgent review. Although the next mayor—whether Bass or Raman—does not have legal authority over Casey Wasserman, president of the LA28 Organizing Committee, and his handpicked board, the mayor will still have the bully pulpit, a powerful platform to speak out, shape public opinion, and rally support. If left unresolved, this issue could become a fiscal disaster for Los Angeles and an embarrassment on the world stage.
Today LA is facing ongoing structural financial stress, recurring deficits, and warnings from analysts about potential “service bankruptcy” if long‑term issues are not addressed. We must, then, evaluate how each candidate approaches cost-effectiveness. That means not only cutting budgets when appropriate, but also reducing duplication, improving procurement, modernizing systems, limiting liability, improving capital project delivery, and strengthening internal audits.
We really have come down to this: Which candidate has the courage to pursue real reform rather than offer band-aid solutions to deep problems? Which one will stand up to unions and special interests to restructure departments? Which candidate will make difficult, establishment-defying decisions to keep the city from sliding toward bankruptcy instead of relying on new taxes, as has too often been the default in recent years? A recent survey says, "Downtown Los Angeles among sleepiest downtowns". How the candidates propose to reverse the trend and bring about recovery? And which candidate will disclose the members of her kitchen cabinet, giving voters a clearer sense of how she intends to govern?
Los Angeles has outgrown a governance model designed for the 1950s. To remain viable and cost-effective, the city must modernize its structure and elect leaders who bring both humility and competence. Voters should be wary about supporting a candidate who is incompetent or arrogant. Streamlining city government is not merely an administrative task; it requires political skill and a genuine agent of change.
"Don`t explain your philosophy. Embody it" Epictetus
(Nick Patsaouras is an electrical engineer, civic leader, and a longtime public advocate. He ran for Mayor in 1993 with a focus on rebuilding L.A. through transportation after the 1992 civil unrest. He has served on major public boards, including the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Metro, and the Board of Zoning Appeals, helping guide infrastructure and planning policy in Los Angeles. He is the author of the book "The Making of Modern Los Angeles.")
